Published at Wednesday, August 08th, 2018 - 20:44:21 PM. . By Monserrat Parrish.

Pickaxe - This tool is a necessity when your soil is rocky or full of tree roots. Use the broad hoelike blade to pulverize small rocks and soil clods. A wide range of tasks that fall under the remit of landscaping can be undertaken with the use of a pick axe. Normal soil that has become dry and hardened can normally be broken up with a shovel. However, this will be more difficult when it comes to hard clay and hard rocky-type soils. Using the sharp end of the ax will enable you to break up the materials so that it can be removed as necessary.

Pry Bar Works Great for Rocky Soil - In the New England garden, rock is our constant companion, and those of you with hardpan know how difficult it is to break through. No list of tilling tools would be complete without the pry bar, or breaker bar. You know the one, 6’of iron bar just perfect for, well, prying and breaking things. This one gets a workout whenever I start a new bed, prying up the inevitable boulder or two that I run across. It also is another tool that can double as a pick, so we’re running out of reasons to own one. If we’re starting a bed, we’re adding compost and humus, mulching and perhaps even moving soil from one locale to another, so I include the barrows and carts in this group. This is a personal decision, based on what you intend to carry and your own personal limitations. The traditional wheelbarrow with the single tire up front is great for working in tight spaces, but it can be unstable with a big load, and anyone who has had to shovel a load of gravel off of a lawn will attest that it is not much of a labor-saving device if you dump it.